Hey guys here's another chapter. Stories gonna wrap up nice and soon. But like Rick, I'm penning a sequel so wait with baited breath.

~Chapter 11~
"It's nothing."

I was star struck. Not by these multimillionaire famous demigods, but by Connor Stoll. Hermes' gorgeous son was standing right in front of me. I could feel the air thinning around me.

"Its official you are a what?" he asked again.

"Oh ah uh..." I flustered around trying to find some audible escape clause where I'd retain some form of dignity. Time around us seemed to slow down like Kronos was at work, though back in my head I knew it was just my heart and mind. Connor's beautiful eyes just gazed at me, taking my breath away just like Aphrodite girls do to the straight boys.

"Bro!" Travis almost jumped on his brother's back as he leaped towards him. Travis was in a sky blue singlet, dark grey jeans and flip flops, seems revealing cloths run in the family. "Oh hey nice jacket Nico!" Travis flicked a fallen leaf off my shoulder and gave me a wink.

"What is it?" Connor asked, prying Travis off him.

"Ya gotta come over by Jason and Percy. Hahahahaha you just gotta come see. I can't explain he hahaah!" Travis' laugh wasn't like he found something funny, more like he couldn't believe his luck or something. He quickly ran off to a group of campers slowly forming around Percy and Jason. Connor just turned back to me, we stared/glared/observed each other for a few moments.

With tension rising I moved things along. "Wanna go see?" I asked, playing with a small shadow in my hand.

"Sure." he nodded. As we set off I realized I should have felt less stress... Instead I just felt 10x more nervous.

As we approached the crowd got louder, and louder and louder. We started to hear whispers that sent shivers down my spine. 'Labyrinth' and 'Stygian Iron'. Connor, Travis and I pushed our way to the front where Jason and Percy were waiting. The two boys held their magical items ready to transform them into Riptide and... Well Jason never told me its name... Gazing over the large Stygian iron 'double door' sticking out of the ground, I could only mutter out something mildly intelligent. "That's new..."

"Jason and I were talking and then boom." Percy brought me up to date with more details than I'll waste your time with.

"Right." I nodded at what Percy said, though my eyes were still fixed on the iron double doors. It was engraved with designs as if it had been pulled out of the wall at my father's palace. As if it knew I had thought of him a band of black and purple mist gathered around the door like a rope, it formed into a rope with a note attached. I must have been under some sort of spell because without knowing I stepped towards the note and plucked it off the rope.

'2 cmp1/2bld. H&H' was written in hand writing I didn't recognise. After reading the note I noticed two locks on either side of the door and a heavy weight around my neck. I examined the other side of the note. 'Connor Stoll' was written in my father's script.

I spoke up without moving my head as if still under the weird forces control. "Connor..."

Connor did step forward, he came up beside me looking rather nervous. "Yeah Nico?" he asked, with a slight quiver.

"I don't suppse you brought a lockpick?"

Connor shook his head. "Nah. I left it in m-You did." my heart skipped a beat as he reached for my neck. I missed another beat as his slender fingers danced behind my neck and effortlessly undid the pendant's chain. What had once been a pendant was now twin keys, one ending in a metal feather, the other a metal bone. Our eyes met and in an instant we had an understanding, Connor handed me the bone key, my father's symbol whilst he kept the feathered key. The campers around us were dead silent, not even Chiron spoke. Connor and I slipped the keys in their locks and twisted. The twin doors groaned as they opened. An echoey voice rang out... My father's voice

"Demi Gods, you have treated my son with dignity and respect. Through your actions you have brought glory to Olympus. On the anniversary of the great victory, I present you with a gift."

"Delivered by Hermes!" the traveller god's happy voice rang out in contrast to my fathers.

We all gazed into the doors which seemed to be open onto somewhere 'else'... Shadowy figures began to form and walk towards the door.

"L-Luke?" Percy almost dropped Riptide's pen as a shadowy figure moved to the cusp of the door, morphing into Luke Castellan. Ares' children were about to draw their hidden blades (They ALWAYS have one!) when Clarisse raised her arm to stop them, her eyes wide open. A shadowy figure ran out and wrapped it's arms around her neck, it was soon followed by a more 'manly' one. The two began to clear up into Selena and Charles. Moments later Ethan Nakamura and Bianca walked through, along with Apollo cabin's old head councillor (Whose name I never learnt.)

Everyone was wary of the returned spirits, they looked almost real, only with a minor transparency to them... The possessed feeling came over me again and I spoke in my Father's words (my own voice though) "My gift to you, 1 day with your departed. Every one of them a Hero, endless in courage, bountiful in honour and worthy of unending praise." explained my father through me, luckily everyone seemed to know it was him.

"LEE!" Will Solace pushed his way through and pretty much dived at the old councillor of Apollo's name.

'THAT was it! Lee Fletcher!' I smirked to myself as I remembered. I looked around and there were absolutely no words to describe the look of sheer joy on the face of everyone at camp. Annabeth seemed to almost melt into tears as she wrapped her arms around Luke's waist and began to…well weep, people had told me she had taken his betrayal and death pretty hard but I'd never imagined I'd see her cry over it.

With Luke off talking to his brothers and Bianca talking to Annabeth, I managed to drift off and be on my own for a change. Normally I would have considered myself always being alone, but recently I'd found myself surrounded by people who I'd end up calling my friends. I leaned up against a tree for a bit of a breather, I had finally understood it all, the tonic, the vision and why I had suddenly felt so taxed… it was all so I would be ready for tonight and summoning the door. My ears tingled after a long sigh, someone was approaching.

"Whose there?" I asked with a bit of force.

"It's me" Juniper came into the light.

"Oh it's you" I sighed with happiness that she wasn't a hell hound or harpy.

"'Oh it's you' yourself Nico." Juniper didn't seem to happy, in fact this was the first time in my memory she was… well 'pissed' or mad. "There's another one of your demigod friends in my grove." Juniper stomped her foot down and a few daisies grew up around her foot. Before I could answer she launched off on another rant. "It's that son of Zeus! He's up against my trunk balling his eyes out over someone." Juniper walked back and forth flinging her arms about ranting for ages… Well I can only guess she was ranting for ages because I slipped into the shadows and travelled to her grove, coming out right near Jason, the poor soul almost jumped out of his skin.

"H-hi" Jason tried to wipe his eyes and cover his face at the same time, which only ended up in him hitting myself in the nose. "Ouch!"

"Jason?" I asked cocking my head a little to try and get a better view of him. Zeus' son just sat there against a tree covering his face with both hands. I noticed a few more tears creeping out from the side of Jason's hands; he was never too good at hiding his emotions.

"What's the matter?" I pulled out a black silk hanky from my coat pocket and handed it to him. (Coco insisted that 'Every gentleman of any class must have a handkerchief on his person so if the need arises he may be of use')

Jason took the handkerchief and blew his nose; I half expected the skies to thunder with equal ferocity but alas, no thunder. "It's nothing." Jason tried to shut down the conversation.

"So 'nothing' brings you out into Juniper's grove to ball your eyes out?" I asked, rather sarcastically.

"Yes." Jason was firm and tried once again to shut down the conversation.

"Well if 'nothing' does that to you I'd hate to see you when you're really bored." I gave out a taunting chuckle and rolled my eyes.

"Whatever." Jason avoided my gaze, trying to hide behind my handkerchief.

"*Sigh*!" I sat down next to him and reached into my jacket, from an interior pocket I pulled out a 'party favour' from Pollux. It was a thin metal hipflask the type macho men always bring out in WWII movies when they're stuck in the trenches. I figured the emotional problems of a queer teenaged demigod were close enough to trench warfare. I uncapped the flask and took a swig… I don't know if any of you have ever drunken something handcrafted by the children of Dionysus… but WOW it was strong, my mouth felt like I had drank 10 gallons of flaming petrol and then followed it by a chaser of napalm. "Here." I handed the flask to Jason, not so much offering him a drink but telling him to have one.

"…Thanks," Jason grudginly took a gulp as well, and then the fireworks started. Jason doubled over and began to cough; with each cough I heard a rumble in the sky. Jason handed the flask back to me and I was sure it would turn into a pissing contest of who was manlier and could drink more. But luckily for my liver Jason gave in after I took back the flask. "It's Percy." He sighed.

"No shit Sherlock." I sighed internally but faked interest and ignorance on the outside. "What do you mean?"

"He thinks he should try and work things out with Annabeth, they're gonna give it a little break but are still in 'love'." Jason used air quote marks for the word 'love'.

"Oh?" I didn't really know what else to say, Jason was older, more experienced in love and far more confident than me.

Jason snatched the hip flask off me and took another BIG gulp. "We've been close ever since the Sea of Monsters!" Jason mocked Percy's voice. "UGH! He acted like I was chopped liver, like our nights of passion in my cabin didn't mean anything!" Jason got a little angrier. "I swore I felt some connection when he was grinding against me. He could barely contain himself when I licked hi-"

"I GET the PICTURE." I made him stop just short of putting to many pictures in my head.

"Oh sorry." Jason slumped down. "The hair." Jason nodded. I raised a cocked eyebrow and Jason obviously saw me because he started to explain. "You asked me what I see in him." I looked back at Jason very confused.

'No I didn't…'

"I have a thing for thick dark hair." Jason nodded again. "Oh and his abs…" Jason's eyes looked both hurt and aroused; an awkward combination. "Not to mention his attitude." Jason looked skyward as if his father would help. "He acts like nothing sticks to him, but really it does. He's the ultimate cool guy." A tear formed in Jason's left eye. I was still at a loss for what to say.

"Maybe you should get some rest?" I asked, sounding like a protective mother bird.

"Every time I sleep I think- no I DREAM of him…and my bed smells like him too." Jason began to blush and giggle. Drunk.

"Right then, I'm taking you home to sober up." I stood up and grabbed Jason's arm, lugging him to his feet I dragged him to my cabin. *Sigh* tonight was supposed to be my night to confess my feelings for Connor and try to work those out, but here I am picking up the pieces that a few hours ago were Jason Grace.

"Come on big guy." I helped Jason in to my cabin and shut the doors behind us. Jason took up residence on the couch, slumped over either due to mental fatigue or intoxication I do not know. "You okay?" I asked as I fetched him a glass of water.

"Just feeling a little cheated." Jason gave a forced laugh as he took the black glassed glass. Zeus' son just gazed at the clear water enclosed in the opaque glass. My eyes glanced over him and looked at his red cheeks and blood shot eyes. Though I must take this moment to impart the things that were going through my head, 'Percy is mad for not taking Jason up on his offer of companion ship. Just WOW that body, a bit more muscle than Percy, more chiselled abs and pecks, and the tattoos… Oh lord I'm objectifying one of my best friends!' .Mentally hit myself to clear my mind in preparation for more picking up more 'pieces' I hung my jacket up by the door and took a seat next to Jason.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" I asked.

"I dunno." Jason slumped further forward, I rubbed his back because it was the only think I could think of to do. Without warning Jason flopped back onto the back rest, squashing my hand. As I gently pulled it out, Jason's eyes began to fog up again. "Stupid indecisive pillock!" a small rumble was heard over my cabin and Jason thumped the other side of the couch.

"Maybe you should just let things settle, see how him and Annabeth go?" I suggested, immediately I knew it wasn't the best thing to suggest. Jason looked straight at me, past my clothes, through my eyes and into my soul. If I had ever wondered about what Zeus looked like when he was angry, I'm sure Jason looked 10 times scarier.

"Why?" he asked, bluntly.

"Don't forget that they are camps number 1 couple. If you go in making a scene you could risk alienating yourself from Percy and then you'd really be in a pickle." A bad time to smile, but I did… a little. Little lightning bolts of death.

"Don't you want me to get with him? Don't you think this is a 'pickle' as you so aptly put it!" Jason was getting a little peeved.

"Hey calm down." I stood up for myself. Standing up to the blood of Zeus, I hope Dad's watching. "I think you and Percy would work great together as an item. And I'm not trying to belittle your situation. But just remember this is one night. Rome wasn't built in a day." Yep I played the 'Rome' card. Rome at camp is something we only mention in hushed tones and is referred to in a type of ashamed reverence…if that works? But this is Camp Halfblood. So it works. All my guts were telling me not to say what I ended up saying next, but I did anyways, "If it doesn't work out, well, you'll be at camp for a while and there ARE other people out there."

"You're right." Rising to my feet I shook his hand firmly. "Let's go have a good time." We headed for the door. I grabbed my jacket and slipped it on whilst thinking to myself 'Let's not let the boys ruin it for us? I haven't even had the chance to talk to Connor about that…' I quickly checked my hair in the mirror as we left the cabin, dropping a gold coin into my father's offering box on the way out… I'd need all the Olympian aid I could muster for this night.

Hope you've all enjoyed that. Well, please review because it helps with the writers block.
Thank you~